Ja'fari
The Ja'fari (Twelver Shia) school follows a structurally different system from the four Sunni schools above, rooted in Muhaqqiq al-Hilli's Shara'i al-Islam. Rather than the Sunni structure of fixed-share heirs and residuary heirs inheriting together, Ja'fari fiqh sorts heirs into three sequential classes — (1) parents and children, (2) siblings and grandparents, (3) uncles and aunts — where any surviving relative in a class completely excludes every relative in the classes below it.
How It Differs
Because of this class structure, there is no equivalent of the Sunni 'residuary heir' who steps in to absorb whatever the fixed-share heirs don't use. When a deceased person leaves daughters but no son, the daughters simply inherit the entire estate between them — not capped at two-thirds the way it is under every Sunni school — because there is no more distant relative left who could claim the remainder; Class 1 already excludes everyone else.
A Worked Example
A man dies leaving two daughters and a sister, with no surviving son.
Under Sunni fiqh, the two daughters would take 2/3 collectively and the sister would take the remaining 1/3. Under Ja'fari fiqh, the two daughters inherit the entire estate between them, and the sister — a Class 2 relative, entirely excluded by the surviving Class 1 daughters — receives nothing.
Source: Cross-referenced summaries of Ithna Ashari (Twelver Shia) inheritance law contrasting this scenario directly against the Sunni schools' treatment of the same family composition.
This page offers general educational information, not a personalized legal or religious ruling. Please consult a qualified scholar and legal advisor before acting on it.
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